The Future of CBD for Pain Treatment and Sports Medicine: Shannon Ford-Smith Appointed to Orion Nutraceutical’s Advisory Board

Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource for cannabis stocks releases a snapshot looking at CBD and its future role as a pain treatment in healthcare, and how it is being advocated and embraced by professional athletes.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) officially removed cannabidiol (CBD) from its Prohibited Substances List effective January 1, 2018 and that has opened up a lot of opportunity for athletes looking for more natural pain treatment solutions and companies in the space.

In June of this year, The BIG3 basketball league announced they will allow players to use cannabidiol (CBD) as a pain treatment and for recovery. "The BIG3 is uniquely positioned in professional sports as a player-powered league that looks at our players as partners not property," BIG3 co-founder and co-CEO Jeff Kwatinetz said in a statement. "As a testament to our relationship with our players, we listened to their feedback on CBD, as well as feedback from professionals in the regulatory and CBD industry, and decided to take this major step to support their health."

NFL Players are some of the biggest advocates of the use of CBD for pain and sports injuries and as a Washington Post article explains, “No professional sport has so many outspoken proponents of marijuana’s medicinal qualities, but then again, no sport is as closely associated with pain and injury.”

Looking at capitalizing on the CBD market opportunity, cannabis life science company Orion Nutraceuticals Inc. (CSE: ORI), just announce today it is entering the sports medicine CBD market with the addition of Shannon Ford-Smith, sports healthcare and CBD product expert to its advisory board.

Shannon Ford-Smith has a uniquely diverse background that includes education, construction, consumer goods as well as experience building and leading companies in the sports healthcare sector. She has over a decade of experience building, leading and establishing business direction.

Throughout her career she has developed deep market insight into the healthcare field. Her recent executive role at Floydʼs of Leadville as Director of Business Development includes the development of Aeliza (a medical grade CBD product line) and oversight of the Companyʼs expansion and growth into the Canadian market, hiring and leading the execution of a common vision of success while mitigating risk. She spearheaded development of the Aeliza line and personally oversaw every detail, from product development and formulation, manufacturing, business development, marketing, strategy, as well as bridging the gap between the medical world and cannabis.

“We are extremely pleased to add Shannon Ford-Smith to Orion Nutraceutical’s advisory board”, said Jonathan Fiteni, CEO of Orion. “Her impressive resume includes a strong background in both healthcare and business development. Shannon’s experience in creating the CBD product line Aeliza will prove instrumental in the creation of Orion’s own sports medicine CBD product lines.”

Also looking at CBD for pain treatment, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) (TSX: ACB) and McGill University announced in August, the launch of an international collaborative medical research project that will comprehensively examine the therapeutic impact and human health outcomes of cannabidiol (CBD) oil as a therapy for chronic pain and related anxiety and depression. "Based on our extensive experience with more than 60,000 registered Canadian patients, we believe CBD to be one of the most impactful medical compounds to become legally available to people in need of non-addictive therapies to treat pain," stated Terry Booth, CEO of Aurora.

"Our support for and involvement with this project underlines Aurora's leadership in the medical cannabis space, as well as our long-term commitment to a science-based approach to deepen understanding of this amazing substance.”

Taking a similar path and partnering with a major University, CannTrust Holdings Inc. (TSX: TRST), partnered with McMaster University on medicinal cannabis research for chronic pain and for designing more effective, safer treatment protocols in public health policies.

The race is on for companies in the sector and new advancements are being made. In late September, Kalytera Therapeutics, Inc. (TSX V: KALY) (OTCQB: KALTF) announced a major step forward in its program to develop the first cannabinoid-derived pain treatment targeting activation of alpha3 glycine receptors.

“When activated, the alpha3 glycine receptor strongly blocks pain signals from being sent to the brain. Kalytera, and its research partner, Beetlebung Pharma Ltd. (“BPL”), have carried out a medicinal chemistry program to identify a novel analogue of cannabidiol (“CBD”) that will block such pain signals via the activation of the alpha3 glycine receptor channel in the spinal cord. To date, no company has introduced into the market an agent specifically targeting this receptor.”

As far as CBD’s role in sports, it is really just the beginning. According to an article in SportsNet, “Former star NFL running back Ricky Williams thinks cannabis legalization in Canada is “a huge step forward” towards professional sports leagues like the NFL softening their stances on athletes using marijuana therapeutically.”

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